I2C (also referred to as I2C) is a multi-master serial single-ended bus used for attaching low-speed peripherals to a motherboard, embedded system, cellphone, or other electronic devices. The I2C bus includes a clock (SCL) and data (SDA) lines with 7-bit addressing. The bus has two roles for devices/nodes: master and slave. A master device is a device that generates the clock and initiates communication with slave devices. A slave device is a device that receives the clock and responds when addressed by the master. The I2C bus is a multi-master bus which means any number of master devices can be present. Additionally, master and slave roles may be changed between messages (after a STOP is sent). I2C defines basic types of messages, each of which begins with a START and ends with a STOP.
In this context of a camera implementation, unidirectional transmissions may be used to capture an image from a sensor and transmit such image data to memory in a baseband processor, while control data may be exchanged between the baseband processor and the sensor as well as other peripheral devices. In one example, a Camera Control Interface (CCI) protocol may be used for such control data between the baseband processor and the image sensor (and/or one or more slave devices). In one example, the CCI protocol may be implemented over an I2C serial bus between the image sensor and the baseband processor.
There is a need for techniques that allow the master device to identify slave devices and/or other devices coupled to the shared bus.